Bengal kangaroo court orders stripping of woman

The victim kept mum on neighbours extra-marital affair

 
She was “punished” for not revealing an extra-marital relationship of her neighbour.
The leaders of the court did not even stop there; apart from threatening her with dire consequences if she dared to lodge a police complaint, they confined her in the village to ensure the incident did not come to light.

But Sabita (name changed), a mother of three kids, managed to give her guards a slip on Friday, ran straight to the police station and lodged her complaint.

Complaint

According to the complaint, a man of a neighbouring village was having an extra-marital affair with one of her neighbours which, Sabita, the elders alleged, did not reveal to them.

The kangaroo court which first met on Monday, levied a penalty of Rs 12,000 on the man and the woman, a brick-kiln labourer; when the elders were reportedly tipped that Sabita was aware of the relationship, but chose to keep mum.

They held a second kangaroo court on Tuesday and ordered stripping of Sabita and beating her with the twigs in the village in order to teach her a “lesson.”

After lodging the complaint against 11 people, Sabita broke down as her husband is a migrant worker and she stayed with her parents and kids in the village. Police later admitted her to hospital with serious “burns” afflicted on her following the beating.

This is the second such incident in six months in West Bengal where the kangaroo courts have taken upon themselves the role of “moral policing” in the villages. Earlier, a tribal girl had been stripped and made to walk 8 km in the village for falling in love with a boy of another community.

The girl’s name was recommended for President’s medal for bravery after she identified six of the accused.